


we'll take our time

by plaxhums



Series: fire and gold, lightning in a bottle [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dubious Science, EXTREMELY self-indulgent, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Nonsensical Analogies, Poetic Waxing, Pre-Relationship, Self-Indulgent, Space Raves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-13 22:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16480871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaxhums/pseuds/plaxhums
Summary: There was nothing to compare it to, but he knew if he ever did this on Earth, it’d be like looking at an asteroid belt while a star was forming behind him.A planet, a victory, and a party.





	we'll take our time

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever just hear a song and it just...hits you like a truck no matter how many times you listen to it?

It was a little funny watching Shiro react.

When Hunk came up to him - Keith, that is - and asked if he wanted to come see the surround sound and light show Lance and Pidge _hacked up_ for their night on Xixaliv. The planet’s bioluminescence celebrated off the high of a victory and another liberation and buzzing with the bass of Lance’s playlist. It should spell disaster, their queen studying Hunk and Shiro and then, Allura with poised suspicion.

_“Your paladins speak most oddly. I have heard stories of their…odder traditions.”_

He could tell Shiro’s face had flushed, but the effect was lost as lights from everywhere twinkled in his eyes, making him look more dazzled than irate. Keith wasn’t one for another grand showing of Lance’s self-proclaimed _totally rad_ dance moves or his personal playlist that he unabashedly sang along to in the showers everyday, but maybe there was still too much adrenaline weaving its way through his veins to block out bad ideas because the next thing Keith knew, he was running at Hunk’s heels. Distantly, he caught Shiro yelling after them. 

_“Not you too, Keith! You’re supposed to be the reliable one. Guys?!”_

In response, he whooped and dodged the Xixalivs as they filtered in and out of the chambers of ballrooms, making sure to keep his eye on the broad line of Hunk’s chest plate. There was something rising in him as they wound through another hallway, its ceiling lower and curved like a tunnel, Shiro’s dad tone completely disregarded.

Keith wasn’t much for parties, not that he got invited to many as a kid in the system, but there was something infectious spilling off of Hunk, an excitement that was uprooting his entire center of gravity as they spilled into one of the largest ballrooms he had ever seen in their journey to defend the universe and his breath was taken away. 

The room _pulsates_.

It took him a good twenty seconds to realize the lights - the creatures of this planet and their technology they made to mirror their genetic make-up - thrum with the music. A beat and a breath of one as color swirled around the room and it left any carnival on Earth flat out in the dust. The one his dad took him to, the old bulbs of creaky attractions so bright and loud to him then was the like solemn quiet of a school on Saturday in comparison. He vaguely recognized the song, probably not from any radio he owned, but Lance had a music habit and freakishly long-winded lungs that practically painted the lyrics on the walls of the castle. He caught a shooting star out of the corner of his eye, following it to be Pidge and Hunk’s armor that glowed under the black lights and bioluminescence. So bright, their shapes stayed outlined behind his eyelids long after he turned away.

A laugh lit up the room, crowing to the heights of Xixaliv and that was when he caught his first sight of Lance.

Spinning, spinning, spinning through throngs of beings, his legs a blur of white in contrast to the body suit and that was when Keith noticed why he hadn’t immediately seen Lance - he had taken off his chest and arm plates, freeing his arms as his chest heaved to catch his breath. Lance’s bayard swung audaciously at his hip. Keith wasn’t completely rooted in denial, no matter what Lance said about not being able to see or hear anything two inches outside of his mullet, Keith was self aware to the point that he thought it was funny that Lance thought _he_ was _oblivious_.

He felt nothing more than obvious, a glowing traffic light on this planet in his red armor as he watched Lance _move._ Completely blown away by the wild curl of Lance’s hair from the encased heat of his helmet and probably running his hands through it and his perfect freaking teeth flashing in and out of the crowd like a lighthouse calling him forward. 

But lighthouses were only supposed to tell you when you got too close.

And Keith was all too ready to let the rolling sea of adrenaline and _that freaking song_ crash him into harbor.

He blinked and Pidge was there to yank him forward, air whipping around him and pulling his feet out from under him as they thrust into the crowd toward the beacon of bad ideas himself. The king of turning an entire planet into an all-out rave of relief and happiness without one speck of regret of completely disregarding Shiro’s talk about humility and being careful about teaching ancient alien cultures certain Earth customs with irrevocable consequences.

_“Well, they’re ancient. They’ve known how to party before we even had the word. We could learn a thing or two from them is all I'm saying.”_

The song crested on his heartbeat and Keith adamantly does not remember this song being that long or world-reckoning, but it’s really, really okay with him when Lance threw out his arms to catch him and Pidge as Xixalivs turned around them in a dance only they knew. A small break before Lance lead them into something more, something wholly Earth and unseen all of the way out here. And boy, does Lance take advantage of every second, yelling new ideas at Pidge in rapid fire speed before she cackled and bolted to whatever corner she had her computer hooked up to. Then came the moment Lance turned to him, hair standing on its end in all different directions, the smooth line of his cheekbone lit blue, red, green, white, over again as his body heaved to keep up with the unbridled heart and mind running the show underneath the blue paladin armor. It was too much and not enough as this moment was etched into Keith’s brain. Lance McClain was the beacon of bad ideas and Keith was happily the ship clutched in the rocky shoreline as Lance unhooked his chest plate and carefully pulled it over his head.

_Well, he probably wasn’t going to see that ever again._

He hoped the lions came with a replacement or easily duplicated armor as a line of white streaked into the hall, Shiro and Allura’s mouths dropping as Coran looked up at it all impressed, studying each component approvingly. Keith’s attention was yanked back as Lance’s fist cheekily knocked against Keith’s jaw, careful not to actually cuff him.

_“C’mon, Red. Show me your moves.”_

And then, _he_ was spinning.

Moving, his feet tripped over each other in earnest and nerves as the Xixalivs dance dissolved into a chaos Lance stood at the helm of. It was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen - a list constantly being reconstructed as he was thrust with his friends to far, far, father still reaches of the galaxy.

He didn’t _have_ moves. Like he said, not much of a partier, that also included clubs or dances or anything like _this_. There was nothing to compare it to, but he knew if he ever did this on Earth, it’d be like looking at an asteroid belt while a star was forming behind him. So Keith did what Keith did best - impulsivity, challenges, and trusting Lance more with each day. He tried a few times to follow and repeat the things the blue paladin did, but it was- his arms didn’t stretch as wide, his legs weren’t as long and sure. Keith usually hated those moments, but he couldn’t even hear himself _think_. All of it was muffled as the room turned around him, shooting fireworks in his veins.

Despite all of the people crammed deliriously into the main ballroom, Lance never let them separate. Even as Keith seemed to forget he faired unsuccessful on his own, Lance was there. The few times they dropped physical contact, he would swoop back in, long fingers clutched in his elbow as Keith threatened to lose his balance and anxieties in a crowd of robes stitched in honor of the life teeming on their planet.

Suddenly, Pidge threw herself back at them full force, colliding in a mess of arms and hoarse shouts. She made room for herself in the circle around them, dancing with Lance as Keith turned around on his own. He caught the smiles of the Xixalivs, someone nearing him enough to dance alongside him. Coran zipped past in his peripheral, winking at Keith as he joined in, a trail of younger kids jumping at his heels. He wasn’t aware of how he moved, didn’t bother to measure each step. Forgot to calculate each corner of the room for intruders or threats. If Zarkon himself waltzed in, he didn’t want _this_ to stop. For one moment, it was okay for him to lose himself in this one victory, a smaller step in the grand scheme of heroics and rebellion. Felt validated for it as Allura made a space for herself, valiantly leading a thoroughly perplexed Shiro into some formal step that seemed mismatched with the faster paced song. More weight chipped away from Keith’s shoulders as the confused scrunch of Shiro’s brow eased and he gave in to The Garrison Trio’s carefully orchestrated lesson in irrevocable Earth customs.

The years dug deep into his scar not enough to encompass it. The dark would not take this one night from him.

It whispered something like permission into Keith, he moved faster and gravity stopped being such a drag.

The crowing laughter echoed in his chest when Lance threw an arm around his shoulders and yelled to be heard mere centimeters from Keith. “Careful, Keith. You might upstage me at my own party.”

Keith said something, he knows he did because he could feel his mouth move and saw the corner of Lance’s mouth tick up as he raised his eyebrows in response. 

There were other words on his mind though, stark like the carvings on the wall of the ballroom that glowed - things like  _“You could convince me to miss Earth.”_ , _“You’re amazing, this is amazing.”_ or, worse, _“I could fall in love with you.”_

Even worse still _,_ that he might have already been half in love with Lance. _  
_

But it was probably the lions, their bonds growing stronger each day, exhaustion, accustoming himself with found family, and the adrenaline and long nights spent watching beacons.

Keith could hear the song finally ending, a regret for a broken spell dimming the smile on his face, before a long arm had wrapped around his waist and they were impossibly close.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, this was extremely self-indulgent, so while it might not be great I needed to just put this out there. Lemme know if you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading & Happy Halloween!


End file.
